Carers Trust Mid Yorkshire

Carers Trust Mid Yorkshire is part of a national network of charities that provide support to unpaid carers.

Working across Kirklees, Wakefield, Calderdale and North Leeds, Carers Trust Mid Yorkshire delivers a range of services such as short respite care, group activities and emergency cover– to relieve some of the pressures that unpaid carers face.

The service currently supports around 550 unpaid carers with a team of nearly 100 care support workers.

The challenge

Rachael Wilson, Finance Manager, Carers Trust Mid Yorkshire:

“Before we transitioned over the Unique IQ’s IQ:timecard and IQ:careplanner, we were still doing lots manually – creating timesheets, logging and investigating mileage claims and relying on paper-based documents like careplans and medication instructions.

“Primarily our goal was to find a software solution that could help drive efficiency with our administration work, whilst bringing a higher level of professionalism to our delivery of care.

“And while product features were important, we were looking for a provider that could offer the right kind of support – good customer service, lots of patience with our care support workers and responsiveness to queries.

“Unique IQ was the perfect fit. Not only did the software meet our needs, but from the get-go, the customer support was second to none. On top of that, we’ve worked alongside the development team to create unique features within the software such as ‘Group Activities – which has allowed us to digitise the organisation of group activities for those receiving care. It allows us to schedule activities, assign care support works and calculate pay rates efficiently.”

The implementation

“With any digital transition, there have been hiccups along the way, but with Unique IQ, any issues we flag have been taken seriously – investigated meticulously and solved in good time to ensure that it hasn’t interfered with our daily operations.

“And whenever I speak to the help desk or even the development team, they always go the extra mile to help – and never complicate things with overly techy language. Importantly, everyone at Unique IQ really understands the way our sector works. Whether it’s an invoicing query or a specific care-related feature, you can tell that there is genuine knowledge and experience behind the solutions given. 

“The operations team have also experienced the benefits of features like carer matching – which lets them identify and record specialised care skills or training to ensure that they are assigning the best-suited carer to the right client.”  

The results

Unique IQ’s software has already had a huge impact on Carers Trust Mid Yorkshire. Digital processes have transformed the way that the team work – freeing up a huge amount of time that was previously dedicated to manual processes like scheduling care visits, processing timesheets, calculating private/claimed mileage and updating care plans. 

The mobile app has been incredibly useful to the care team too, and with the recent adoption of eMAR – administering and recording medications has been fully digitised, which helps reduce errors and mitigate the chance of missed medications. The team is also looking forward to implementing Digital Forms.

Digital records and automated reports have meant less time is spent searching through filing cabinets and printing documents, making it far easier to measure outcomes and share evidence when required. 

Rachel continued:

“Transitioning from paper-based to digital records has been completely transformative. We used to spend countless hours trawling through filing cabinets and reprinting and replacing documents like care plans. With Unique IQ’s software, it takes seconds to find, update or share the information we need.

“In 2020 we were truly put to the test with the Covid-19 pandemic. I can honestly say that I don’t know what we would have done without Unique IQ’s software. Reports were invaluable during the early stages of the pandemic – allowing us to quickly establish care agreed vs. care delivered, and enabling us to respond quickly to the challenges that we faced.”